January 14th, 2009: 2 months since I left! (Ko Lipe, Thailand)

Photos! Photos! Photos!

The last few weeks have been great fun, except the part where Jack had to head home, which was of course very sad. We had such a great time exploring Ko Chang and relaxing there on the various beaches, but a few days after New Years the weather turned somewhat sour and we decided to head back to Bangkok.

The few days I had left with Jack were spent exploring some parts of Bangkok that we hadn’t seen yet, visiting with some of Jack’s family that was in town to meet Taius, his cousin Dave’s brand new addition to the clan, and getting some chores done. Chores included shopping for a few presents for people back home, and finding out about my camera – which was quoted at $500 to fix!! Since the camera cost less than that originally, it’s been packaged up and sent home, and we’ll deal with it through the warranty. In the meantime, we managed to find a relatively cheap Sony digital camera that will do the job – and so PollyCam2 is up and running. (See photo link at the top of this post!)

Jack left on the 7th, and since new Thai immigration rules only give foreigners who arrive overland from neighboring countries 15 days in the country without a visa (instead of the usual 30 days), I had to be out of Thailand by January 10th. I found a flight to Malaysia and decided leaving on the same day as Jack would be less depressing than kicking around Bangkok by myself for a few days! So we headed to the airport and flew out within hours of each other.

I flew to Georgetown on Penang Island, one of the oldest British outposts in South East Asia, and a frequently-used immigration-office stop for foreigners renewing or getting visas to Thailand. I had my first unfortunate run-in with bed bugs at the first hostel I stayed at – I vainly tried to mummify myself in my sleep sack as they scurried around the room and onto my mattress! I probably wouldn’t have slept a wink anyway, but then for extra measure, a club a few doors down started up around midnight. Apparently there are clubs in Malaysia that play one song all night! And that song is called, “Firing a Gatling Gun Inside a Trash Can”! And these clubs do not close before 5am! I got at least 45 minutes of napping (the bedbugs clapped with glee and swarmed me as I slept, I’m sure) before the morning call to prayer, which was so loud I actually thought it was happening IN MY HEAD.

One very grumpy hostel-change later, I napped most of the day away blissfully while my Thai visa was being processed – you can apply in the morning and get you passport back that afternoon. For about $40 you can get a 60-day single-entry visa to Thailand; sure beats having to find a border crossing every 15 days while you are vacationing!

I wandered the streets of Georgetown and admired the old colonial buildings, many of which have been beautifully restored, and made it out to the New World Park to sample some Malaysian food, on a friend’s recommendation (thanks for the tip Megan!) I considered spending another day there, as there were enough old buildings and forts to explore, but the beaches of Langkawi were calling to me, so I headed off on ferry the next morning.

Pulau Langkawi is duty-free island in the very north-west of Malaysia, on the border with Thailand. Many Malaysians, as well as people from neighboring nations, vacation here as the beaches are beautiful and the tax-free prices keep the beer prices down. It was the first time on this trip that I have been able to afford wine so I had a glass each night! I was lucky to get the last dorm bed available at Gecko Guesthouse when I arrived. I had intended to stay two nights on Langkawi and ended up staying for five nights; it really is an excellent place. It helped that I met a great gang fun of people at the hostel! Since everyone is on vacation, a party mood prevails wherever you go. My first day there a group of people beside me at the beach asked if I’d like to join them; some of them were Malaysians from Kuala Lampur and we went out for dinner for some really excellent local food. The next day I did a boat tour of several of the surrounding islands and met three girls from Finland who are on vacation; we ended up meeting for drinks that night, and one drink turned into several as we danced in the sand at a Reggae beach bar under a full moon. The party then moved on to a local dance club, and time always flies for me when I’m dancing – next thing I knew, the place was closing and it was 3:30am. The next few days were spent leisurely either at the beach, or back at the Gecko, where the gang played cards, watched movies, or harassed some of the many kittens inhabiting the guesthouse with us. I did accomplish one goal I’ve had for this trip all along: I swam to a deserted island. An island about 800 – 1000m offshore of Cenang beach looked easily reachable, but I was glad when another tourist, a Dutch waterpolo player, volunteered to come swim it with me. Especially when we got about 300m away from the island and the currents seemed to keep us in the same spot for WAY too long! We did finally make it to the shore after nearly an hour. A couple met us on the beach – they’d taken a boat over to the island and volunteered a ride back. It seemed a much safer option – don’t worry mom, I’ve done it once now, so I won’t be attempting things like that again!

Life is Hard on Pulau Langkawi

The island in the left corner of the picture above is the one I swam to!

Langkawi does have more than just some beautiful beaches to offer; my last day there I rented a scooter and went to check out the cable car to the highest point on the island. Unfortunately it was closed due to high winds, so I went to check out a nearby waterfall. The steep climb up was a wakeup call – I’ve been lying on the beach for a while! The pools at the top and the bottom of the falls were worth it though – very reminiscent of the Sooke Potholes near Victoria.

I am now in Thailand; the one -hour speedboat trip from Pulau Langkawi to Koh Lipe this morning was a bit harrowing at times, as the winds have been quite strong. They haven’t seemed to have affected the clarity of the water though – we were all gasping with delight as the boat turned the corner into the harbour of Pattaya beach this morning, the largest beach on Koh Lipe. The water is the most unbelievable color, and you can see straight through to the bottom even when it’s 20 feet deep! As soon as I’d found a place to stay I rushed out to book a scuba diving trip for tomorrow. We’ll spend the day exploring Ko Tarutao National Park, a pristine underwater haven. I was going to stay two nights – already I’m predicting it will be more. My plans from here are to keep moving up the west coast, island-hopping my way to Ko Lanta and Ko Phi Phi, then crossing over to the eastern gulf for some diving in Ko Tao. There is a yoga and meditation center I would like to visit in Ko Pha Ngan, south of Ko Tao, and then I plan to spend a few days in Ko Samui if I can time it right with the infamous full moon party held on Ko Pha Ngang (I plan to take a boat over to the party from Ko Samui.) Then it will be back down to Malaysia, to check out Borneo and climb Kota Kinabalu before hopefully getting some diving in on the eastern coast of peninsular Malaysia (currently in the throes of monsoon season). Bali, Australia, South Pacific and New Zealand to follow…I can’t believe one third of the trip is over already!

Sunrise Beach, Koh Lipe